My Daily Race

Iâ??ve always known being a stay at home parent is hard work. There are all the regular duties of being the one at home but on top of it you have a child (or children) that tend to run the show. So the minute they go down for a nap (lucky we only have the one because when you have more than one itâ??s unlikely they nap at the same time) you run around like a chicken with your head cut off.

For me that means I have time to:

Brush my teeth

Clean something that needs cleaning (usually the kitchen)

Laundry

Work: which could mean bidding a painting job, writing an article, working on social media for myself and clients, etc.

Take the trash out

Water the new plants outside that I have not hooked to the drip system yet

Blah, blah, blah

Whether you have kids or not I think you can appreciate the busyness we all tend to suffer from nowadays but add a kid or two in and holy smokes Batmanâ?¦insanity!

So, to my point, he just woke up after sleeping for about 50 minutes so I had to step away from writing this to get him set up for a bottle in his high chairâ?¦but now Iâ??m back and you have my full attention (yah right).

I donâ??t care who you are, most of us live very busy lives today. Weâ??re chasing after the almighty dollar in the hopes of making enough to pay the bills and have some left over to have fun. The hamster wheel keeps going faster and faster. Time is running outâ?¦literally and figuratively.

Question is, are we happy? Are you happy? How could we better manage our time in order to not be so â??busyâ? and/ or stressed? Is it an issue with priorities? If my number one goal is to make money does that take away from my quality of life? Does it take away from my sonâ??s quality of life if Iâ??m not completely present when Iâ??m with him?

I have no clue what the right answer is but I do know itâ??s important for each of us to address the question of quality of life and quantity of life. I think itâ??s important for each of us to do a time audit on ourselves and make sure weâ??re using our remaining time wisely. As they say, nothing hurts quite as much as regret.

One thing Iâ??ve thought about is my son. I work at home while my wife is gone at work. He needs me when he needs me. There is nothing more important than that. I need to be able to walk away from work and be mentally present for him during those times. My wife and I made the decision that I could work from home as I try to grow this new business and continue to run my painting business. Itâ??s not always easy but we thought it was good for me to have this time with him as well as be able to save the crap ton of money it would cost to have strangers raise him in a daycare.

My apologies for the rambling, I have Baby Signing Times playing in the background for Sammy and Iâ??m trying to make this pointâ?¦

It is vitally important that we audit our time and prioritize accordingly. This isnâ??t some new age, everybody be happy, and find fulfillment kind of thing. This is the world we live in now. We have the ability to â??cut the fat off the steakâ? so to speak. If there are things we want to change itâ??s never been easier to do so and I feel we owe it to ourselves and to our legacy to follow through and do it.

I know how hard it is, weâ??re evaluating and adapting on an almost daily basis. You have to be aware and make changes as needed but Iâ??ll tell you what, itâ??s such a cool feeling when I go in the â??zoneâ?â?¦almost like an athlete. I have those moments where all cylinders are firing with Sammy and Iâ??m completely connected to him in the moment and when the time comes for me to sit and write or whatever, boom, in the zone. Those are the things Iâ??m trying to achieve more and I know I will if I continue to tweak and improve but that will only come from being aware and avoiding the rabbit hole.

The takeaway:

Be aware of your time and how youâ??re spending it

Regardless of whom you are in front of or what task you are doing, give it your undivided attention (if itâ??s not worth your undivided attention it may be worth cutting out)

Keep your head on a swivelâ?¦tweak, adjust, adapt

Life is short, I know the dollar bill is really important but I also know we need to reevaluate how much weight we put on that (difficult but true)